Rebuilt my Dob

[kirkster501]

Will post more pictures later.  I had a 12" SW Goto Dob that I could not get on with at all.  So I gutted it and rebuilt the base from scratch with a lasy susan - the base is entirely remade from 18mm marine ply.  First use last night.  One word.  Fantastic!  So much better.  So easy to use.  With a 35mm Panoptic in the Moonlite M31 was a sight to behold.

[faulksy]

so you done away with the goto, or you modified that aswell

[kirkster501]

so you done away with the goto, or you modified that aswell

I don't like goto on my "observing" telescope (different for AP of course).  Goto is a binary "marmite" thing in my opinion. It's hideous work of the devil I think - especially with the SW backlash -  but each to their own!  I stripped all the electronics and motors out (which I will sell, handset and all) and rebuilt the base woodwork using the old parts as templates. The old bits went onto the bonfire.  I had to order a couple of bits from Skywatcher to complete the conversion - they cost peanuts.

Its now a manual dob and is wonderful!

[estwing]

I always thought goto was a terrible thing until I saw steve's (bomberbaz) scope in action and now I can see its use...but i'll stick with manual thank-you.

[NGC 1502]

Nice job  and using the old parts as a template a good idea.

Hope you have many great observing sessions with your Dob, and because you had DIY input, your pleasure will be all the more.

Regards, Ed.

[kirkster501]

Thankyou Ed. Yes indeed.  Lets hope for the clear nights to use it!    I will post more pictures of what i did tomorrow in case anyone else should want to do the same at some point.

Steve

[scarp15]

Liberating, and no doubt lighter in weight without the motor. Whilst I quite liked the particle board construction, re-building part or all the base in new woodwork will help to. Yes, the 12" flex tube and a 35mm Panoptic on Andromeda is scintillating under a dark sky.

[Naemeth]

Anything that allows the scope to be used more is a good modification . Nice idea .

[swamp thing]

Good job. Ply is sooooo much better.

I have always found the Goto system very good on the Skywatcher models. I'm surprised you disliked it so much.

Although I prefer a manual scope, I will probably fit a tracking system to my larger Dob for group viewing sessions at some point in the future.

Having tracking is useful if there are a few observers wishing to view through the scope.

[Wyvern]

Yep,  Big dob + good old fashion up and down and left and right motion = heaven 

Les

[Avocette]

I look forward to seeing your detailed photos. I'm curious to know what you've done for your Alt bearings? I have the 300p Flextube manual version. It comes with a Lazy Susan Azimuth bearing but no teflon pads so is a bit too easy to turn. On the other hand the Alt bearings are formed from the black plastic cylindrical tube cheeks gliding on nylon (?) posts with side friction controlled by large red fibre washers pressing on the white melamine coating under variable pressure from the thrust bearing handle. I'd like to improve this but was anticipating having to build Alt bearings with much larger cheek circles finished with formica sitting on teflon pads (as used by Moonshane etc.) or by careful choice of counterbalance weights for each eyepiece. Any thoughts?